Clockwork Duplicity
by Penbrydd
Summary: Aizen reminisces on his days in Sereitei and the perfect future he intends to create... for himself, of course.


_**Disclaimer: **__Bleach is the property of Kubo Tite. I just borrow his characters and play with them.__  
_

_**Author's Note:** I was listening to some Hitchcock, and this just fell out. Aizen reminisces about his time in Sereitei and speculates on the future of his new world._

_**Warnings:** None.  
_

* * *

___But to live is to betray -- every second, every day...  
-- Robyn Hitchcock, "Autumn Sea"_

Aizen Sosuke was a man who turned heads, and not all of that was attributable to the dubious nature of his zanpakutou. He had a gentle, caring look and a handsome face to wear it on. Hinamori was not the only shinigami to fall head over heels for him, and these passions, he used to smooth his path into harder hearts. Everyone trusted and appreciated Aizen, in much the way that no one quite trusted Ichimaru. But even this was intentional -- the introduction of an obvious danger at a high level to take the eyes away from the real problem. On the whole, Ichimaru kind of pissed him off, but the offensive little fox was still useful, in much the same ways he always had been.

Idly leaning in the arched opening to a balcony in Hueco Mundo, Aizen sipped at a teacup of warm sake topped with three cherry blossoms. His mind wandered to the unpredictable nature of man and how perfectly he had manipulated the entire structure of the Gotei 13 for his plans. It was truly incredible, and if he were to be honest with himself in ways he never would be with anyone else, a great deal of it was a combination of luck and intuition. He just wished he had found a more _creative_ use for poor Momo. The girl was an ideal tool for his ends, and certainly, he'd used her to point the finger at Hitsugaya, but something nagged at him about the entire affair -- some missed opportunity he couldn't quite see. In the quiet moments, he missed her, sometimes. There was something to be said for quiet adoration in the face of the lunatic arrancar girls who fought each other and his latest prize just to gain his attention. They simply bored him, he was a prize to them -- an expensive object -- but to Hinamori, he'd been respected and graciously attended. In some ways, she was the closest he'd had to a friend in centuries, even if every word he'd ever spoken to her was a lie.

The vicious little bone-wasps behind him -- for so he called those jealous female arrancar -- could tell he was thinking of Sereitei again, and they would soon start begging for a target that it would please him to see destroyed. For all that, Aizen had never destroyed anything more significant than a life. He was an architect, both of fate and a new world. He had the touch of creation in him, yet, and preferred not to dirty his own hands with what destruction needed to take place to make room for his creations. In time, he would send the ones who could not be tamed to their own destruction. Let them taste what they had wrought at their own hands. Finally he smiled, slightly, and turned a longing gaze across the reddening sky where the sun he created with his own hands performed another beautiful blazing sunset, for his pleasure. Sometimes, he left it sunset for days at a time, so he could bask in that rich orange glow. It was good to be god, and at times, he was almost content.

Then the bone-wasps began to buzz again. He considered leaving one or two of them alone with Grimmjow or Nnoitra for the evening, just to see how many pieces would be left to pick up in the morning. Szayel would be more than happy to have some spare parts for whatever this week's lunacy was. Yes, this time, he would do it. Maybe they would shut up, just for a little while.

He drained the cup and tossed it over his shoulder, into the group behind him. Hearing it strike a hand, at last, he turned with the kindly look he'd always saved for Hinamori. "Please, leave me. I wish to be alone."

The girls jostled to be the last one out of the room, and as they approached the door, slowly, he called out to one of them. "Inga?"

The girl who'd caught the cup turned to face him. "Yes, Aizen-sama?"

"I believe Nnoitra requested your presence, this evening. See that you do as he asks." With a warm smile and a cold eye, Aizen nodded toward the door and then turned back to bask in the radiant sunset.


End file.
